Linux display and video: 1 problem, 3 solutions - Laurent Pinchart

The Linux kernel offers three APIs to display video and graphics. While DRM/KMS, FB and V4L2 started as solutions to distinct problems, they now largely overlap, resulting in confusion and code duplication.

Several efforts have been or are being led to consolidate our display and video APIs and reduce code duplication. Despite them too many application developers are still lost when they need to select an API for display and video.

This track will briefly present the ongoing work on DRM/KMS, FB and V4L2 that aim at reducing code duplication and bridging the gaps between these APIs. It will then outline the use cases that each API targets and how they can collaborate, to finally try and define rules that governs what API to choose when writing new drivers and applications.

The track's target audience is kernel and userspace developers who want to better understand the Linux kernel graphics and video APIs and their interactions, and share their opinions on directions for future developments.

Laurent Pinchart has been a Linux enthusiast since 1997 and Linux kernel developer since 2001. He has written media-related Linux drivers for consumer and embedded devices, and is one of the Video4Linux core developers. Laurent is the founder and owner of Ideas on board, a company specialized in embedded Linux design and development. He gave Linux media-related talks at the FOSDEM, LPC and ELC. He currently works with the Renesas Linux kernel teams where he develops embedded video-related kernel subsystems.